Improved street-pavement



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UNITED STATES HENRY M. STOW, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

IMPRovED STREET-PAVEMENT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 74,862, dated February 25, 1868.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY. M. Srow, of San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Street-Pavements; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a` part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in driving down into a foundation-bed of sand or loose earth tiers of Wed ge shaped wooden blocks, with spaces between saidtiers iilled with gravel, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a section of my pavement completed, shown in perspective; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a section of said pavement in process of construction.

A A, Figs.l l and 2, are wooden blocks as they stand inthe completed pavement, their lower ends being made in wedge form,by leveling -one side only. and said Wedgeshaped ends driven down into the foundatiorrbed of sand or earth. B isa gravel packing between thetiers ot' wooden blocks. A A', Fig. 2, are

similar wooden blocks, as set in process of constructing the pavement, before .being driven down into the foundation-bed and B is a spacebetween the tiers of blocks, Vto be filled with gravel, or sand and gravel. C C are removable strips to be used in constructing the pavement, but forming no part thereof when finished. These strips are placed between the v tiers of paving-blocks in constructing the pavement, simply to keep said tiers a proper dis-4 tance apart in straight rows, and the blocksv in a true vertical position. They are made in two parts, of wedge form, lapping together, as

is clearly shown in the drawings, to facilitate their withdrawal from between the tiers of blocks when the latter are driven home.,

These strips may be made of wood or metal. Thepaving-blocks may be about three inches thick, from six to ten inches long, (or deep,) and of any desired width but I do not limit myself to any specific dimensions. The removable strips should be about one inch thick. To prepare the street for the putting down of this pavement, it should first be lled with a bed of sand or loeseearth, to within, say, live inches ot' the desired to) of the pavement, (but varying according to the length of the paving-blocks to be used,) a'nd then graded to .correspond with the desired arch or crown of The sand' or earth should bei the pavement. thoroughly saturated with Water. rlhen the paving-blocks, with the intervening removable strips, are placed as shown in the drawings-first, a tier ot' wedge-shaped blocks across the street, from curb to curb, and then a tier of strips, (which may be of any convenient length,) and so on alternately, a tier ot' b1ocks and a tier of strips, until a section of, say, ten feet or more of the pavement Las been thuslaid. The blocks are `then driven down-evenly with a heavy beetle or rammcr, until a rm foundation is made by the packing of the sand or earth effected by the wedge shape of the blocks. 'lhe section of pavement, before driving down the blocks, should be sccured', by proper means, against spreading as the blocks are driven down. The pavingblocks are to be so constructed and set in the pavement that the grain of the wood wil be vertical. When the said blocksvare propV erly driven down, the removable strips are to be withdrawn, and the spaces between the tiers of blocks are to be filled with clean gravel, the pebbles averaging, as near as may ln, from one-fourth to one inch in diameter, the said gravel to be well packed by rammer and swage. Or, instead of iilling said spaces with all gravel, they may be filled to within about an inch and ahalf ofthe top ofthe blocks with sand well packed in with raninn-r and swage, and the residue ofthe space iilled with gravel, as aforesaid. When the pavement is thus completed, the whole surface.

should be subjected to a boiling-hot coating of coattar and asphaltum, or oil and asphaltum, or any other kind of suitable pitchy substance, and then covered with a thin layer ot' coarse sand or very fine gravel. The blocks,

before being put down in the pavement, may be saturated with1 coal or gas tar, or any liquid hydrocarbon,or other resinous substance which will tend to preserve the Wood from decay. s

Having th'ns fully described my invention,

with the nxethod of emryngibinto elcct,wlmt and gravel, substantially als shown und le- I. claim is my invention, :nul desire to secure scribed. by Lettere; Patent, is Y A pavement; composed of fiers 0l' wedgef- HENRY M STW'* shaped wooden blocks, driven into a, founda- Titllsses:

tion-bed of smul o1' oni-till, with spaces be- R. H. DUELL,

tween smd tiers packed wil-l1 gravel, or sand J. J. GOOMBS. 

